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This section introduces the basic concepts, methodology, and general troubleshooting guidelines for problems that may occur when configuring and using the Cisco MDS 9000 Family of multilayer directors and fabric switches.

Steps to Perform Before Calling TAC

At some point, you may need to contact your customer support representative or Cisco TAC for some additional assistance. This section outlines the steps that the you should perform prior to contacting your next level of support, as this will reduce the amount of time spent resolving the issue.

Note:

Do not reload the module or the switch at least until you have completed Step 1 below. Some logs and counters are kept in volatile storage and will not survive a reload.

To prepare for contacting your customer support representative, follow these steps:

1. Collect switch information and configuration. This should be done before and after the issue has been resolved. The following three methods each provide the same information:

a. Select Tools > Show Tech Support in Fabric Manager. Fabric Manager can capture switch configuration information from multiple switches simultaneously. The file can be saved on the local PC.

b. Configure your Telnet or SSH application to log the screen output to a text file. Use the terminal length 0 CLI command and then use the show tech-support details CLI command.

c. Use the tac-pac <filename> CLI command to redirect the output of the show tech-support details CLI commandto a file, and then gzip the file.

<nowiki>switch# tac-pac bootflash://showtech.switch1 <nowiki>

If no filename is specified, the file is created as volatile:show_tech_out.gz. The file should then be copied from the switch using the procedure outlined in the "Copying Files to or from the Switch" section.

2. If an error occurs in Fabric Manager, take a screen shot of the error. In Windows, press Alt PrintScreen to capture the active window, or press only PrintScreen to capture the entire desktop. Then paste this into a new Microsoft Paint (or similar program) session and save the file.

3. Capture the exact error codes you see in the message logs from either Fabric Manager or the CLI.

a. Select the Logs tab in the Map pane in Fabric Manager or choose Switches > Events to see the recent list of messages generated.

b. Copy the error from the message log, which can be displayed using either the show logging log CLI commandor the show logging last number to view the last lines of the log.

4. Answer the following questions before calling for technical support:

On which switch, host bus adapter (HBA), or storage port is the problem occurring?

Copying Files Using Device Manager

2. Set the To field to the server where you want to copy the configuration file to.

3. Set the From field to running or startup configuration.

4. Select the protocol you want to use to copy the file from the switch.

4. Select Apply to copy the file.

To copy files to the switch using Device Manager, follow these steps:

1. Choose Admin > Flash Files. You see the list of files in the chosen device and partition.

2. Select Copy to copy a file. You see the copy file dialog box.

3. select the protocol you want to use to copy the file to the switch.

4. Set the server address and the file that you want to copy.

5. Select Apply to copy the file.

Copying Files Using the CLI

The CLI offers a broad range of protocols to use for copying to or from the switch. Note that the switch always acts as a client, such that an ftp/scp/tftp session will always originate from the switch and either push files to an external system or pull files from an external system.

File Server: 172.22.36.10
File to be copied to the switch: /etc/hosts

The copy CLI command supports four transfer protocols and 12 different sources for files.

Tip
Backing up the startup-configuration to a server should be done on a daily basis and prior to any changes. A short script could be written to be run on the MDS to perform a save and then backup of the configuration. The script only needs to contain two commands: copy running-configuration startup-configuration and then copy startup-configuration tftp://server/name. To execute the script use: run-script filename.

Using Core Dumps

Core dumps are available in situations where unknown problems exist. Dumps are sent to a TFTP server or to a Flash card in slot0: of the local switch. You should set up your switch to generate core dumps under the instruction of your customer support representative. Core dumps are decoded by technical support engineers.

Best practice is to set up cores dumps to go to a TFTP server,. Then these core dumps can be e-mailed directly to your customer support representative.

Setting Up Core Dumps Using the CLI

Use the system cores CLI command to set up core dumps on your switch.

switch# system cores tftp://10.91.51.200/jsmith_cores
switch# show system cores
Cores are transferred to tftp://10.91.51.200/jsmith_cores

Note:

The file name (indicated by jsmith_cores) must exist in the TFTP server directory.